Improvement in machines for cleaning fibrous materials



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES G. SARGEN", OF GRANITEVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR CLEANING FIBROUS MATERIALS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 33,852, dated December 3, 1861.

To' all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, CHARLES G. SARGENT, of Graniteville, in the town of VeStfOrd, county of Middlesex, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful'Improvements in Machines for Cleaning Fibrous Materials; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which-` Figure 1,Sheetl,is a cross vertical section. Fig. 2, Sheet 2, is an elevation of the driving end; and Fig. 3, Sheet 2, is an elevation of the other end.

Similar letters of reference in each of the several gure's refer to like parts.

` A represents the frame-work of the machine which supports the working parts.

B is the endless apron upon which is placed I the material to be cleansed.

C C are the two feeding-rolls, arranged similarly to those of ordinary wool or cotton pickers.

D is the comb-beater cylinder. This cylinder is made with two kinds of beaters-one kind consisting of serrated combs with their outer points bent forward, forming from point to heel of tooth a semicircle on their outsides, as shown at F F, Figs. l and 4. The other kind is made of bars with teeth set in their centers and on an angle of forty-five degrees, with a line passing through the center of the cylinder. These beaters are set alternately around the cylinder. The one with long teeth serves to comb out the fiber, the other to beat and free the d ust and light dirt, and both serve to carry the fiber forward to the cylinder I. A plan of these two kinds of comb-beaters can be seen at Fig. 4.

The cylinder I may be constructed either by grooving the roll and winding into it toothed wire or by putting onto it plates or rings with teeth or notches cut in their outer edges, with packing placed between them, or by embedding comb-plates into the cylinder, or in any Way to produce a tooth and space or smooth surface to iioat o the burrs and at the same time have the teeth hold the liber. This cylinder revolves at the rate of fourhund red turns per minute, and in connection with in front and underthis cylinder there is anv open-space into the cylinderD,with a curved adjustable mouth-piece K of metal at the top of this opening. Through this opening the fan L on top of the machine receives its air.

IVhen the beater-cylinder J knocks oif foreign matter, thehheavier portions strike under the curved edge ot' the adjustable mouth-piece K, and from thence fall upon the floor outside of the machine, while the fiber which is` knocked off at the same time, being light, is caught and carried upward into the machine by the current of air passing into it.

In other machines the seeds or foreign n1atter are knocked into the machine along with the ber by the action of the guard-cylinder, and although the burrs, seeds, rbc., may be perfectly cleansed of liber, yetfthey are passed around by the action of the picking-cylinder and mixed with the fiber in process, and may be again carried to the burringcylinder and again returned, but ultilnately find their Way out between the bars of the grating. This operation on the same burrs may be repeated many times, as there is no definite time when the burr can pass through the grates, it dcpending entirely upon circumstances. In my machine when the burr is once separated it is passed out of the machine at once. Now, the fiber being thus returned into the machine and again brought round to the cylinder I it is carried by it forward to the brush-cylinder M, having a motion of fourteen hundred to sixteen hundred turns per minute, and which takes the fiber from the cylinder I in a clean state and blows it out of the machine through the trunk-passage N.

On the top of the machine is placed a suction-fan L. Below the fan is alarge air-space which has for its bottom a perforated plate O. This air-chamber extends nearly one-third around the cylinder D, so as to bring a large surface for the fan to act upon, thereby tale ing out all dust from the fiber at this point of action.

Operation: The machine being placed on the i'loor,it is to be made air-tight all around its bottom, so that no air is admitted, except a small quantity under the feed-rolls and at the opening under the guard J, the quantity admitted under the guard being regulated by the adjustable mouth-piece Kat the top ofthis opening. The machine being put in motion, the material is fed on the feedapron and carried forward to the feeding-rolls C C. These pass it through to the cylinder D. The comb-beaters here seize the ends passed in, while the rolls C C hold on to the other ends, and thus they are combed out and straightened by the comb-beaters, and the dust and light dirt freed from it are taken off through the perforated lining on top of the cylinder D and blown off by the fan, the holes in this lining being so small that no fiber can pass out with the dust, and at the same time this lining comes so near the points of the teeth of the beater that no fiber can accumulate on it, the heavier portions falling out through the grates G or II into the bottom of the machine. The fibers thus freed from the feed-rollers are carried forward to the toothed cylinder I and lashed or combed into the teeth on its surface, together with all foreign substances which may be entangled with it. The toothed cylinder I carries the ber up to its junction With the guard. Here the oats or beating-edges of the guard knock off all locks not thoroughly opened and all seeds, burrs, and other foreign substances. The seeds and foreign matter, clear of liber by the momentum given them by the action of the beater, are driven through or across the current of air passing into the machine and strike under the curved edge of the adjustable mouth-piece K and fall upon the ioor, while the strong current of air passing into the machine over the top of this adjustable mouth-piece arrests the rolls and knots of fiber, together With such seeds or other foreign matter as have liber attached, and carries them backinto the machine to be operated upon again until the fiber is entirely liberated.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I clailn as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Picking the fiber at the front and rear of the machine, in combination with two inrushing currents of air, substantially as described.

2. In combination with the picking of the fiber at t-he front and rear of the machine and the two inrushing currents of air for carrying the lighter impurities up into the machine, the two passages immediately below the picking-points for the grosser impurities to fall into, substantially as described.

3. In combination with the main cylinder D and the toothed cylinder I, the guard-cylinder J, in connection with the open space leading into said cylinder D for theair to passin, substantial] y as and for the purpose described.

4. In combination with an exhaust-fan arranged over the machine and the air-passages leading to it from the front and rear of the machine for carrying off the lighter impurities and the passages below for the grosser impurities to fall into, the cylinders .I I M, for the double purpose of closing that part of the machine against the admission of "air and for separating and carrying out at diiferent points or places the cleaned ber, the dust, and the grosser impurities Without allowing them to mingle after they are once separated, substantially as described.

In 'witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of September, A. D.1S6l.

OHAS. G. SARGENT. In presence of-` SULLIVAN L. WARD, O. E. CUsHlNG. 

